A magnetic stripe plastic card contains a magnetic tape material much like the magnetic tape used in digital data recording. The magnetic stripe consists of a magnetic oxide, and binder compounds that provide the magnetic stripe with data encoding and durability capabilities needed for plastic card applications. While these magnetic tape components have been optimized for plastic card applications the magnetic tape used for the magnetic stripe on a plastic card is very similar to standard digital data recording tape. The encoding of the magnetic stripe on a plastic card also follows standard digital recording techniques but is again optimized for plastic card applications. The encoded data takes the form of zones of magnetization in the magnetic stripe with alternate magnetic polarities. The north and south poles of the magnetized zones alternate in direction providing an encoding technique that can represent the binary “zeroes” and “ones” of a binary digital code. The standard encoding technique for the magnetic stripe on a plastic card is the F2F (Aiken double frequency) code where a binary zero is represented by a long magnetized zone and a binary one is represented by two magnetized zones each one-half the length of the zero—a long magnetized zone. The exact length of these zones of magnetization is determined by how much data needs to be recorded on the magnetic stripe. For example Track 2 data is encoded at 75 bits per inch or 75 long zero zones per inch—International Standards Organization (ISO) specifications 7811-2/6. That equates to 0.01333 inches in length for the zero magnetized zone. The binary one would then be two zones of one half that length or 0.00666 inches in length. Other lengths can be obtained for different data densities such as the 210 bits per inch used in Track I and Track 2 of the magnetic stripe.
A magnetic stripe encoder consists of a magnetic write head and an electronic current drive circuit capable of magnetizing the magnetic oxide in the magnetic stripe to full magnetization (saturation). The encoding current in the write head is capable of alternating direction thereby producing alternating zones of magnetization direction in the magnetic stripe that will form the data encoding of the magnetic stripe.
The two most common magnetic oxides used in magnetic stripe cards are referred to as low coercivity (LoCo) and high coercivity (HiCo) magnetic stripes. Coercivity measures how difficult it is to magnetize or demagnetize a magnetic tape or stripe and is measured in oersteds. Low coercivity magnetic stripes are typically 300 oersteds and high coercivity magnetic stripes are above 2700 oersteds. A high coercivity magnetic stripe requires about three times more energy to encode or erase then does a low coercivity magnetic stripe. Many magnetic stripe card applications have gone to HiCo magnetic stripes because it is much harder to accidentally erase the encoded data then on a LoCo magnetic stripe. This provides greater durability and readability of the encoded data in use for many applications.
Reading the encoded data in the magnetic stripe is done by capturing the magnetic flux field extending from the magnetized zones in the magnetic stripe by a magnetic read head. The read head converts the changing magnetic flux in the coil of the read head to a voltage pattern mirroring the magnetization zones of the encoded data. The voltage pattern can then be translated by the decoding electronics into the binary zeroes and ones of the data as is well known in the industry.
The process of magnetic tape application to plastic cards, the encoding of the magnetic stripe and the reading of the encoded data in the magnetic stripe at point of use has been a reliable and cost effective method for portable personal data storage for financial, ID and other plastic card based applications. However, the relative ease of reading and encoding or re-encoding of the magnetic stripe data has made the magnetic stripe plastic card subject to counterfeiting, copying the data to one or more cards (skimming) and other fraud abuses. Skimming fraud is growing around the world and has reached financial dollar losses that call for immediate solutions.
Smart plastic cards using memory chips and microprocessor chips were first introduced to provide another type of data storage medium not subject to the types of fraud found in magnetic stripe cards. The Smart Cards did reduce some types of fraud but the cards where much more expensive than a magnetic stripe card and the magnetic stripe readers at the point-of-transaction had to be replaced with readers that could read the data storage chip and the magnetic stripe by either contact or RF contact-less data transmission. These cost factors and the large changes in the existing infrastructure built up around the magnetic stripe plastic card systems and applications have prevented the rapid and more general acceptance of Smart Cards at point-of-transaction. Another factor in the slow acceptance of Smart Cards has been the lack of visible benefits to the end user or consumer. The consumer is just as content to use the magnetic stripe as to use the chip to complete a transaction.
The need for fraud reduction with a versatile and inexpensively manufactured transaction card is urgent. In the US fraud is tending to cover from 7.5 to 12 basis points, and skimming is projected to cost $8 billion dollars in 2005. Internationally, the need is even more dire, with fraud tending from 25 to 40 basis points and 60 percent of that due to skimming. Nevertheless, merchants in the United States and elsewhere are reluctant to invest the resources necessary to change all of their current magnetic-card transaction equipment for various reasons, including cost, convenience, disruption to business and reliability.